Well, it took more than half a season, but the Los Angeles Lakers finally found a way to look like a formidable opponent against, well, a formidable opponent. When Mitch Kupchak made (what we thought was) the magic happen in the offseason, this is the team we envisioned.

Well, OK, maybe not exactly. I don't know too many people who had the Lakers' current offensive strategy pegged. For the second straight game, Kobe Bryant had more assists than he had shot attempts, once again finding himself one rebound shy of a triple double. For the second straight game, the man filling the void of aggressive scorer was Steve Nash. When the trade for Nash happened, people drooled at the thought of Kobe being able to work off the ball and find easier shot attempts with Nash running the show. Instead, it is Nash who is roaming and finding open space around the three point line as Kobe forces double teams and dishes out the dimes. This is something like the 4th different strategy the Lakers have attempted this season, and we've seen it for a very short time, but the early returns have been delightful.